In the Walled Gardens: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Tragic tale of history's web
Review: "Exile is its own country," Anahita Firouz write in this, her debut novel. Set in the brewing years of the Iranian revolution, it follows two people's lives, Mahastee and Reza, friends as children, who have now been inextricably tied in to the politics of their land. Warning to all who may have a mistaken view of where this is going: this novel is definitely not a love story! It is much more about the history of a place, and its people, about how much we can and cannot control our own destinies.

Reading this novel you can almost feel the wind rush off the Alborz mountains, feel the sense of impending doom that is about to crash down on these characters and their countryside. While it takes a few chapters to get truly involved in their story, you'll find it hard to put down once you are. And believe me, it's worth it...this book as the most heartbreakingly realistic ending I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful story about a different edge to revolution
Review: I've read several novels that are set against the backdrop of the Iranian revolution, and typically they're characterized by straightforward good vs. bad mentalities, and in the end, the two protagonists always end up in each others' arms. Not so with this masterpiece by Firouz. Don't be fooled by some of the editorial reviews and book jacket comments...this is not a romance. It's more a story of exile, of what happens when a country's politics end up shutting out an entire generation of people. And that's the book's power and beauty.

Mahastee and Reza are both smart enough to recognize that ultimately they have chosen their fates, and to realize that whatever they might do, by virtue of social class, revolutionary association, etc., their fates are now out of their hands. It's what makes this book profound and tragic, and ultimately, the most realistic book you'll ever read about 1979 Iran.

Rating:
Summary: In the walled gardens
Review: The book paints a very perceptive picture of pre-revolution Iran through the eyes of a sensitive upper class house-wife and a left wing radical. The love story though poignant is almost incidental.This novel has resonances in many countries of the region both in the Middle East and Asia of that period. The author has done an outstanding job. In the walled garden( or is it pairi daeza?) is a book difficult to put down.